Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-18
WOMEN AND WORK.
ELIZA PUTNAM HEATON.
I CoDyrighied, 1897


the girl pupils in the sewing room and
their spotless aprons in the bright new
kitchen, but when l came TO the long
workshop, where the odor OF newly planed
wood hung about and carvings adorned
the walls saw no sign whatever OF temi-
nine occupancy. Turning to the kind
faced superintendent, Miss Burns, l
asked the reason.
"Oh, public opinion in New York would
not tolerate girls in the WOODWORKING
rooms yet" she said. "Fhey have come
to it in other places, perhaps in time we
shall here"
Public opinion is an indefinite thing In
a city the size OF New York. or in the
"Metropolit an Distric ,"as we now say IN
inflated phrase. including under that mead
Brooklyn. Jersey CITY, and ali the coun-
try round about. There Is room for
great many public opinions and OF divers
sort. There is public opinion that re
quires OF young woman that abe
throw aside tisht shoes, metaphOricaliy
speaking, and cultivate feet that she can
stand on and run if need be. There is
another public opinion that holds TO the
totterlng gait of nigh heels as stanchlY
as ever it did. There ia pu bic opinion
that urges upon parents the advisablit'
OF launching their daughters in wave
earning Industries as conscientiously as
their sons. and there is an abundance OF
public opinion that doesn't.
Turning from opinion to fact, there IL
no one feature of the civilization OF the
city that is thrustng itself more persist.
emily into notice in these latter days
than the incurslons which Ell, her sex is
making into industrial domains no long
time since supposed to belong exclusively
to the other. The wasberwoma suffers
from the poachings of the laundry man.
NO WOman's knack with the boiler and
the skillet commands such prices az are
paid TO The male chefs OF tae great hotels.
Worth Is not of the sex which has been
supposed 20 monOpnliZe the mod iste's art,
nut be suffers no rival near the throne.
Even thu tailor aspIr eS to cut and fit for
women customers and asplres not in vain.
Ga the other hand the woman teacher
has multiplied till she is beyond count
ing. The name Of the feminine CLERK,
bOOkkeeper, telegrapher, steno2Tapher and
typewriter is lie ion. 1t is easily possible
to be shaved by woman barber, TO have
ones tooth filled by "a woman dentist,
ones scandals written up by a woman re-
porter, ones case pleaded by q woman
LAWYER, ones doubts mlnistered unto by
woman minister and ones ailments re-
lIeved by woman physician. There is
public OpiniOn--and conservative one 1t
regaI DIS ltself--that views these guerilla
ra dis from the opposite sides in very dill
ferent lights. AS Col. Higginson once put
it, in the case OF the man it proves his
superior executive ability; he surpasses
woman at her own work. In the case OF
the woman il shows nothing but a per-
slstent desire to unsex herself. 1t may
have been mistake In the original con-
stitutIOn OF the woman to create her suo-
ject to hunger; but such being the case.
and the modern industrial system haY-
ing resolved itself into wild game Of
puss in the corner, it is hard blaming her
Tor jumping for the first vacant nook she
spies.
| wonder how many people have an
Idea OF the inherent craving Of the
healthy woman for an occuDs-
ton in which she can satisfactorily en-
plOy her energies. An almost uniform
experience has led me to expect, when |
pass certain point in the acquaintance
of any woman not blessed with family
of children, that she shall express what |
have heard from scores OF lips, the desire
for w0rk-bOnest, productive wOrk-to
keep from rusting. Ii is healthy slim
uius to mental growth, the lack 90 which
is responsible for nine tenths OF The small
"Old maid" set adoat.
There is one ida that the modern wO-
man is be Ginning 10 disabu,e hers II OF,
and that is that to DO woman Is vOcA-
ton. There is a bright woman Oh the
London Truth who In the IA hion column
OF tUat journal Gevotes herself under the
nom de plume Of7"Madge," to setting
forth week 10y week the ideal English
family paradise. Toe central figure Il
H., Il "A.
four pretty satellites Of d4ught at
tired like the lilies of the field who toll
not. neither do they spin; but who make
up Tor their shortcomings on the prscti-
cal side of life by Jumping for papa's SLIP
peTs when ne comes IN wearIed after a
day in the city, smoothing the wrinkles
from bis brow ard amusins him wi b
kittenlike prattle on every subject within
their comprehension, Poor papa; WHEN
stocks go down and the market look 5
b,ue, there is public opinion that holds
him as he trudges nome to his girl family.
not less wrongly aud absurdly owe rtaskeu
than the weary woman who goes out to
day labor While her husband escorts the
babies to day nursery and then loafs on
the corner till his dinner has been earned
and cooked Tor him.
To be vile and mother is vocation and
the woman Wno Is tulhillny IL 10 with
drawn from one labor market, because
sue tolls IN more exacting and better.
But a woman VINO has no other claim To
be supported than that she is of the sex
feminine may one day need better. 1t
Is hard fact not easv to dodge that
one-third OF the women OF the StateOf New
York are unmarried, and that nee ssity
or CHOICE or both are driving increased
numbers OF them into the labor market
every day. 1t IL not an equal COMPETE
ton into which they enter with men, and
it never can be. Some OF them give tn q
industrial energies OF a HE Time. Some
work before marriages; some work after
marriage; some give divided attention
during marriage. The broken, fragment
tery necessarily unstraIned work Of n
part pulls down the wage rates oil the
whole; but In spite of all the average
grows HIGHER, and as the range OF oCcu-
patton widens the wages rise.
Mrs. +. Lynn Linton, who furnishes
one OF the examples now happily grow
ing rarer, OF talented woman WHO as
sumes all the latitude Of occupation a q
OF thought she needs, but would bar th e
rest OF ner sex from the same privilege.
made one good point, however. in herGia-
tribe against the bigncr education OF wo-
men In recent number Of the For nj 4 ht.
ly Review. Toe urgency OF women 10 20.
ter money making occupations she
ascriOes a. one cause or the social ban
that lies on workers IN fields where mas.
culine competition does not enter. The
matter VI self-support will be easier Tor
the whole sex when domestic service is
lifted u the plane where 1t belongs. and it
10 u me the one greatgood to be looked Tor